During a meeting last week, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reminded employees that Amazon is not immune to failure.

“Amazon is not too big to fail,” said Bezos. “In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespan tends to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.”

The Details

Bezos’s warning follows a bankruptcy announcement from Sears, but comes at a good time for Amazon. Last week, the company announced plans to establish its second headquarters in parts of New York City and Northern Virginia.

In February, Amazon overtook Microsoft to become the third most valuable company in the world (behind Apple and Google). Coming in fourth and fifth were China’s Tencent and Facebook.

According to Forbes, Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $105 billion.

“If we start to focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end,” said Bezos. “We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible.”

Think Outside The Box

The Headline

Trump Administration introduces new regulations to help companies avoid the birth control mandate

The Grind

The Affordable Care Act requires most companies to include birth control as part of their health insurance benefits. The law also allows insurers to cover abortions, as long as they do not use federal funds to do so.

These rules represent a clear violation of religious freedom for companies that oppose contraception.

Under new rules proposed this week by the Trump Administration, companies that oppose contraception would be able to obtain an exemption from the ACA’s birth control mandate.

Under a separate proposal, female employees denied contraceptive coverage by employers would be able to obtain free or low-cost contraceptives from family planning clinics typically reserved for low-income individuals.

These clinics, which operate with funds from Title X of the Public Health Service Act, are already struggling to provide services to some four million people annually on a budget of $286.5 million.

The Trump Administration has also proposed altering rules for clinics that receive Title X funds so that:

— Clinics would not be required to provide abortion-related information.

— Clinics would not be allowed to provide family planning and abortion services at the same physical location.

Trump has stated that his long-term goal is to “prohibit Title X funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions.”

The Details

Administration officials say the rules will meet the needs of women while “preserving conscience protections” for employers and preventing legal challenges related to the ACA.

“With these regulations, President Trump kept his promise that people of faith would not be bullied on his watch,” explains lawyer Gregory Baylor. “At the same time, contraceptives will remain ready available to those who wish to use them.”

Critics worry about the added strain on Title X clinics and claim the rules are an affront to women’s rights.

Trump’s proposal would “hijack Title X programs and use their limited federal funds to subsidize employers’ refusal to comply with the contraceptive coverage requirement,” argues Clare Coleman, President of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association.

The proposed rules will face Congressional scrutiny in January.

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP:Did you know… Temperatures have been cooling since 2002, even as carbon dioxide has continued to rise.